Cherry Kisses
by zanmato337
Summary: Rikku eats Brother's noxious cooking and becomes ill, only to have Paine help her. What's going on. [RikkuPaine] oneshot


Today was not a good day for Rikku. Not a good day at all.

Currently, she was leaning over the toilet in the bathroom of the Gullwings airship, where she had been for the last hour or so. Tonight, Brother had insisted on cooking dinner instead of Barkeep. Initially, the overall response of the crew was something like 'Hell no' or a variant of it, but Brother's incessant whining and stomping around eventually made them cave in. "What could it hurt? It's just one night." Buddy said, although he certainly wasn't at his most enthusiastic. It had indeed turned out to be a terrible mistake.

The dinner was nothing short of a disaster. Her idiot brother had attempted to make dinner rolls, but the end result looked like small lumps of charcoal. Rikku resisted the urge to throw one at Brother. Shinra pocketed one (later she would see him analyzing it to see if it really was supposed to be a bread roll) Apparently, after no one tried to kill themselves by eating a roll, Brother assumed everyone was eagerly awaiting his piece de résistance. He ran into the kitchen, and came back with a large plate with what appeared to be cheeseburgers. After he unceremoniously dropped a burger on everyone's plate, Rikku looked closely at it. Well, it wasn't any weird color, and it didn't smell old, (Brother once ate a sandwich from the back of the cooler that had mold on it and didn't even notice. Best to check) Maybe, she thought, she'd misjudged him. Maybe he did finally learn how to do something right for once. She decided to eat.

__

Worst mistake ever, Rikku. You should have known something was up when no one else ate anything, except Brother himself. And he drank all the antidotes they had left on the ship after he realized that his cooking wasn't up to par. The big jerk, he could at least saved me one.

Rikku moaned in annoyance, and sat on the bathroom floor. It seemed the nausea had gone for now, so she could relax a little. She tilted her head back so it rested on the wall and looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm going to kill him later..." Rikku said to no one in particular, Well, unless you count the fly looking down from the ceiling. Even a fly had sense enough not to touch Brother's food.

"You know, I don't think you'd be able to do much damage with your head stuck in a toilet." A voice spoke. For a second, Rikku thought the fly was the one making snide comments, and her eves opened in shock, but then she noticed the trademark heavy, black boots of Paine in her peripheral vision.

Rikku managed her trademark grin somehow, despite the fact her head and stomach were aching from dinner. _Why is my head hurting? What did he use to make those burgers, exactly?_

"Haha. Very funny, Paine. I think you may have missed your true calling stand-up comic. Couldn't wait to make fun of me until I'm feeling better?" Paine smirked in response. _Ah, man. Something's up.. I hope it isn't 'hurt time' - she wouldn't hurt a sick person, would she?_

"What are you looking at me like that for? I'm not going to hurt you." Paine said, interrupting Rikku's train of thought. "I just thought you'd want some help getting over.. whatever you have." She turned to leave.

"Wait, wait! I'm sorry, I thought you were going to do something, but well.. you know you." Paine nodded. "If the offer still stands, I'll take it. I can't stand being like this." She tried to do her best charming smile to convince Paine that helping her was the right thing to do, and hoped it would work.

Paine smiled. _That was rare. Maybe my charm is even more effective than I thought. _"Well, meet me back in the cabin. But before you leave," Paine smiled even more. "..you might want to brush your teeth. You have a piece of lettuce stuck in your teeth." With that, she walked out the door.

"I.." She turned to look in the mirror, and saw that indeed, there was a large amount of greenery stuck in between her front teeth. Grabbing her toothbrush and toothpaste, she started to work. How could she not notice something so large stuck in her mouth? She couldn't really tell if she was more embarrassed or annoyed. Oh well, at least Paine was offering to help her, which was surprising. I mean, unless it was a life or death situation, Paine had always left her to deal with her own mess. _Weird. Maybe she's going soft. But Paine, any other way than she is? Impossible. _And with that seemingly ridiculous thought out of her mind, she continued brushing her teeth.

Ten minutes later, Rikku entered the cabin. Paine was behind the counter mixing some noxious-looking drink together. No one else seemed to be around. Still irritated about the lettuce incident, she approached her friend. "So, what'cha making?" She asked, looking uneasily at the liquid.

"This? It's something I learned how to make from Nooj, after your friend Gippal ate some of what the Crimson Squad called 'rations' for the first time. Paine smiled a little again. "Maybe it's just that the Al Behd are picky eaters." Rikku glowered at Paine, who laughed quietly before continuing to make the drink. When she got done it was a weird orange color, but still looked a lot better than something Brother could come up with. "You might want to go to your bed. This is pretty strong stuff."

"I can take it, I think." Rikku stated, sure that it couldn't be as bad as Paine said it was. Paine only shrugged in her typical fashion and pushed the tall glass over to the thief. Rikku downed it in one gulp. The next thing she knew, she was on her back (They really should make that barstool more sturdy) with Paine standing over her, looking down.

"See?" was all Paine said as she knelt and picked Rikku up in her arms and carried her up to her bed. What ever stunned state Rikku was in disappeared quickly when Paine dropped her onto her bed.

"Hey! You didn't have to do that, ya big meanie!" Rikku exclaimed, sitting up on the bed.

"I told you to come up here and sit down, didn't I? It's payback for not listening and for me having to carry you." Paine stated in her usual calm voice. Rikku swore there was a note of smugness in her tone. "Oh, and here." Paine pulled a piece of Rikku's favorite candy out of her pocket and handed it to her. (_How'd she know? Was she actually listening all those times Rikku asked [whined to really] Brother to stop by Luca so she could buy more?_) "Helps with the aftertaste." Rikku noticed that there was a burning sensation spreading inside her throat. Bleh.. but at least her headache/stomachache was rapidly vanishing. Popping the cherry-flavored candy into her mouth, she smiled appreciatively at the silver-haired girl, who simply looked back.

"My favorite, how'd you know?" Rikku asked. Paine looked past Rikku and through the window. "You always talk about it." was all she said. Rikku, still not satisfied, continued. "Why'd you help me?"

Paine turned to her. Her eyes softened for a second, but quickly returned to her steely gaze. "Because you were holding up the bathroom. And you'd whine all tomorrow about no one helping you." Rikku pouted. Paine was quite possibly the most difficult person she'd ever met. "So," she tried again. "I see why they call you Dr. P now. So.. what do I owe you, Doctor?" she asked playfully, leaning against Paine's shoulder, and looking up into the older girl's eyes, green swirled eyes meeting dark crimson ones. Paine pushed her away, and stood up.

"First off, stop that. Second, you don't owe me anything - I was just helping a friend." She turned to walk away. But of, course Rikku stopped her by jumping into her path of escape. Paine sighed. _Yeah, it's not that easy to get away from me! _ "...What?" Paine sounded irritated.

"It's more than that, I know! And no matter how many times you glare at me or push me is gonna convince me otherwise!"

"Forty-six, Rikku." _Damn, I forgot to put the respect points in my rant._

"It's not gonna work, even if I get down to negative forty-six." Rikku said, even though knowing her, it'd take forever to get back to zero after that, much less forty-six if that happened.

Paine glowered. "Well.. what do you think it is?" The only way to get Rikku to stop annoying her would be to answer her question... _but might as well annoy her before answering_, Paine thought, smiling inwardly.

Rikku kicked at the floor with her right foot absentmindedly. She didn't know exactly why she was still pressing the issue. Maybe it was the fact that it just all seemed so weird, Paine taking care of her of all people. Maybe because she hoped it was something else? At that thought, all the recent actions of Paine, odd separate incidents, fell together to create an obvious reason.

"Paine," she asked looking up at the warrior. "..do you, um, like me?" she asked warily.

"Yes. But I might not feel that way anymore if you keep annoying me." Paine replied, sounding exasperated again.

"No! Not like that..." Rikku said, then thought on how to word what she wanted to say. " I mean _like _like me." _Well, that wasn't the most eloquent way of putting it was it? Poopie._

"..." Paine just looked blankly at her. _Well, she hadn't tried to leave, or anything, which would mean a 'no', so... was it? Why couldn't she just say Yes or no like normal people?!?_

Rikku had had enough of this entire guessing game. She reached up, took hold of Paine's shoulders and kissed her. Paine didn't seem to mind, at least she hadn't pushed her away yet, anyway. Pulling away after what seemed like forever, she looked up at the other girl's face. Paine looked back at her, with a calm look.

So she wasn't mad.. but, then again she wasn't trying to kiss Rikku back.. maybe she was just counting how many respect points to take away... oops. Rikku turned to leave and go find somewhere to die of embarrassment, but then she felt a gloved hand grab her arm and pull her into an embrace. _Well, that was unexpected._

Paine smiled _again_, an event that was quickly becoming more common than rare. Her eyes had the same soft look they had earlier when she was sitting on the bed talking to Rikku. "The answer.. is yes." Rikku's eyes widened at the sudden display of emotion from the usually apathetic Paine. If it was possible, they widened even more once Paine leaned down and kissed her.

Paine's kiss was a lot more passionate than Rikku's was, but still soft, gentle. Not to be outdone, Rikku returned the intensity, running her tongue over the other girl's teeth, seeking entry. The older girl willingly obliged. Now their tongues were vying for dominance against each other. The taste of cherries spread from Rikku's mouth to Paine's. _She seemed to like the new taste being introduced.. well, that is, if that light moan coming from her was directed towards that. _ Rikku smiled to herself. She wondered what someone would say if they walked in. Probably 'About time' or something. How could she be so dense not to know her own feelings?

The kiss lasted a few minutes more, before Rikku pulled away. She didn't feel like killing Brother anymore, that was for sure.

She beamed at Paine, who couldn't hide her own matching smile if she wanted to. Still in Paine's embrace, she sighed happily.

"You know, I wish I had gotten sick a lot earlier."

Today had actually been a good day for Rikku. A good day after all.


End file.
